Cuddly Toys (Blu-ray Review)
Director
Kansas BowlingRelease Date(s)
2022 (April 28, 2026)Studio(s)
Manhattan Movie Studio (Vinegar Syndrome Pictures)- Film/Program Grade: A
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B+
Review
Writer, director, editor, actress, cinematographer, (we can probably keep going) Kansas Bowling made a super fun 2016 Troma film called B.C. Butcher at the ripe old age of 17 and it was the first Troma acquisition in a long time that felt like a real Troma film. It’s not as easy capturing the style and energy of Uncle Lloyd Kaufman as you might think, but Kansas pulled it off, without really trying. Her follow-up, Cuddly Toys, is a tribute to 70s Mondo films like Shocking Asia, The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield and Faces of Death—complete with saturated film stock and pseudo-documentary footage. The focus here is the world of the teenage girl, hosted and narrated by Professor Kansas Bowling, an expert on the subject. A series of case studies illustrate the world the typical teenage girl must navigate—absentee parents, handsy 30-year-old teenage boys, old perverts, full on rape and more murder than you can shake a stick at. This is a wake-up call to girl dads everywhere. Tongue-in-cheek, yet incredibly earnest, Cuddly Toys could only have been made by Kansas—a woman with a sense of humor, knowledge of film and some clear experience in the world she’s showcasing. Not a film for everyone, but if you’re a fan of the Mondo genre and looking for competent and entertaining piece of auteur cinema, Cuddly Toys is highly recommended.
Vinegar Syndrome’s Region-Free Blu-ray features a very pleasing video with nice colors and strong blacks. The film was shot on 16mm film and posted in a scanned 2K. It looks like a 70s Mondo film and does a great job selling the whole thing. Audio is DTS-HD stereo and sounds good. A commentary track with Kansas and film author/critic Heidi Honeycutt is also on board. Heidi runs the track with Kansas simply answering questions; but you get a good impression of Kansas who giggles throughout. The absurdity of making of the film and how the whole experience from conceiving at 19 and writing and shooting it in her early 20s sounds like it was the last breath of her adolescence—not necessarily distancing herself from it, but you can tell she’s moved on to bigger things in her mind (and has two new films in various stages of post—can’t wait to see them). Proving this, her five music videos for her ex-boyfriend’s band Collapsing Scenery, featured here, showcases incredible storytelling and a real grasp of cinema and literary references (never thought I’d see a four-minute all-girl retelling of Lord of the Flies, but here it is). Rounding out the special features are two short making ofs: one of Kansas shooting a sequence from the film and the other showing footage from the making of the trailer; and that actual trailer, featuring wholly original material not from the film, is also on board. Overall, Cuddly Toys and its special features is a nice collection of work from a talented filmmaker I’m hoping to see more from.
- Todd Doogan